L-R: Buddy Noel; Angela Noel; Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor Melissa Harris-Perry; and Peter Noel. Buddy and Angela Noel are the children of the late Rachel B. Noel; Peter is her grandson. (Mark Woolcott, Special to The Denver Post)

Author Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor at Tulane University and host of an MSNBC show that bears her name, was Metropolitan State University’s Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor for 2014, and during her whirlwind visit to Denver she delivered several lectures, including one at which Denver’s former first lady, Wilma Webb, and media personality Gloria Neal were honored.

Harris-Perry wrote “Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America,” and is professor of political science at Tulane University. There, she is the founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South.

“Her academic research,” notes MSU president Stephen Jordan, “is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges and harmful stereotypes that prevent African Americans — especially women of color — from fully realizing their potential in government and society.”

Her Denver lectures, delivered on campus and in the community, focused on her work to eliminate barriers and stereotyping.

Gloria Neal, left, and Wilma Webb. (Matt Woolcott, Special to The Denver Post)

Harris-Perry also writes a monthly column, “Sister Citizen,” for The Nation magazine and provides expert commentary on U.S. elections, racial issues, religious questions and gender concerns for a variety of media outlets other than MSNBC.

Her first book, “Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought,” won the 2005 W. E. B. DuBois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2005 Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnic Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

Harris-Perry spoke to students in the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus and at the Noel Community Event at Shorter Community AME Church.

During the event at Shorter, community leaders Wilma Webb and Gloria Neal were given the 2014 Hope for the Future Noel Awards.

Webb is a former first lady of Denver and a former state legislator perhaps best remembered for getting Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday observed as a holiday in Colorado. Neal is a veteran multi-media journalist who can be heard weekday mornings on AM760 and viewed on CBS4 newscasts.

The Visiting Distinguished Professorship was initiated in 1981 to foster multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at MSU Denver and bring renowned scholars and artists of distinction to the university to conduct classes, seminars, performances and lectures for students, faculty and the larger Denver community.

It is named for the late Rachel B. Noel, who had been a professor and head of the African-American Studies Department at MSU. She was the first African-American to serve on the Denver School Board and introduced the Noel Resolution that led to the integration of the Denver Public Schools.

Ferrandino was honored for championing passage of the Colorado Civil Union Act in 2013, making Colorado one of 20 states, plus the District of Columbia, to offer recognition to same-sex couples.

Metropolitan State University of Denver, along with its president, Stephen Jordan, and board chair Robert Cohen, were honored for having led MSU to provide access to higher education for undocumented students, which ultimately helped pave the way for the Colorado Legislature to pass the ASSET Bill in 2013.

Drawing on a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” — ADL’s regional director, Scott Levin, noted that Ferrandino, Jordan and Cohen were all people who worked tirelessly to bend the arc just a little closer to justice.

Ferrandino was introduced by Fran and Anna Simon, one of the first Colorado couples to celebrate a civil union on the night the law went into effect. In giving thanks for the award, Ferrandino observed that “If ADL is behind me, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

Jordan and Cohen, who were introduced by a current MSU student who has been a beneficiary of the tuition reduction, said they viewed the university’s decision to offer a reduced tuition rate as simply “the right thing to do.”

The event was co-chaired by ADL Civil Rights Committee leaders Daniel McKenzie, Monica Rosenbluth and Holly Stein Sollod. Over 160 civic leaders and community members were in attendance.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Aguilar, a physician, was recognized for the impact she has had on children and women in our community, particularly as it pertains to accessing high quality, affordable health care.

In addition, the Zonta Club of Denver was recognized for its work in improving the lives of women both locally and globally. Members Cathryn Conley and Mary Benoit were there to accept the 2012 Wisdom Award.